Tools move production process for electronics hardware into the fast lane

Recently, as I gazed into the prototype of a smart breast pump, I had a vision of the future. I saw an age in which new products—actual, physical electronics products—will go from idea to store shelves in a matter of months. A future in which warehouses and distribution centers cease to exist, because factories produce finished goods from raw materials on demand, and they never stop moving through the supply chain.

Only it turns out all of this is possible today. The “hardware renaissance” that began in Silicon Valley in just...